Aethermoor — World Lore

"The sky is not heaven. It is the wound we made and learned to live inside." — Driftborn proverb

Aethermoor is a realm of floating islands drifting above a ruined surface world. Five centuries ago, a magical catastrophe called The Sundering shattered the continent and flung its pieces into the sky — where they have hung ever since, held aloft by wild, unstable magic.

What was once The Irenian Empire is now a patchwork of sky-island city-states, nomadic sky-ship clans, and half-forgotten ruins. Below, The Deadlands stretch in every direction — a toxic, ash-choked wasteland where nothing human has walked for generations.

The World at a Glance


Era	The Fifth Century of the Floating Age
State of Magic	Fraying — The Weave was torn by the Sundering and has never fully healed
Political landscape	Contested between The Iron Compact, The Veilwardens, and The Driftborn clans
Greatest threat	The Weave's ongoing unraveling — and those who would exploit it
Tone	Gothic wonder, political intrigue, post-apocalyptic survival

History

The Irenian Empire — the old world before the sky broke
The Sundering — the cataclysm that shattered everything
Empress Sylara Voss — the last ruler of the old world
Valdris the Architect — the archmage whose ambition tore the sky open

The World Above

The Skyward Cities — the floating islands where most people now live
The Breach — the wound in the sky above where the Sundering happened
The Spire of Echoes — a mysterious tower of pure crystallized magic

The World Below

The Deadlands — the ruined surface beneath the floating islands
The Sunken Archive — the submerged library of the old empire

Factions

The Iron Compact — the industrial empire of the sky-islands
The Veilwardens — keepers of the Weave, enemies of exploitation
The Driftborn — sky-nomads who answer to no one
The Ashen Court — pretenders to the old imperial throne

Magic & Religion

The Weave — the magical fabric of the world, and why it is failing
The Shattered Pantheon — the old gods, and what replaced them
The Heartstone — the artifact that caused the Sundering

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